


You make my heart do the thing

by delusionalbookworm



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alcohol, Cutesy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:55:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6570592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delusionalbookworm/pseuds/delusionalbookworm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after the events of the last series of Legend of Korra, Bolin feel slightly lost.  While the rest of team avatar seem fulfilled and full of purpose, he doesn't feel like he can say the same about himself. However there is one person who makes him happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You make my heart do the thing

Bolin was facing the toughest challenge he'd ever faced, and he was starting to sweat. He had his back to the wall, and had nowhere to go. Every pro-bending match he'd ever been involved in; taking down Amon, Unalaq and Zaheer and Kuvira; even learning to lava bend - nothing he'd come up against before had ever come close to this.

"You okay, kid? You look a little down," Varrick asked. He'd come over to inquire about when Asami was getting back (he really needed to discuss some things about Future Industries with her), and found Bolin sitting cross legged on the floor, trying to teach Pabu to play Pai Sho. And from the looks of it, Pabu was winning. At the sound of Varrick's voice, Bolin looked up, and sighed in relief, taking his friend's arrival as an opportunity to draw the game to a close.

"Mm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bored, I guess. I haven't really had anything to do recently, and I don't have anyone to hang out with either. Korra and Asami are still on vacation in the spirit world. And Mako is around, but he's busy being a detective all the time." Bolin had thought about getting a job too, but what would he do? He could go back to being a pro-bender, but who would he get for team mates? What he really wanted to do was help people, but the last time he'd tried to do that he'd ended up working underneath a crazed, power-starved warlord. Warlady. Whatever. 

"Ah. Must be tough." Varrick nodded in understanding. He thought for a second, then a grin spread across his lips and he snapped his fingers triumphantly. "How about a night on the town to cheer you up? A nice meal, a pro-bending match, maybe a couple of bars afterwards?"

"Yeah! I'll go get washed up." Bolin smiled. It did sound nice, and though he loved Pabu and Naga, he could use some human company.

"Excellent!" Varrick cried. He loved wild nights out, parties, and being served fancy food and performed for as though he were royalty. Being out with Bolin made it even better. Bolin was always so easily impressed, and he found everything fun. He was a walking bubble of enthusiasm. Well, not so much recently. But hopefully some time with a friend was what he needed to get his happy-go-lucky, bubbly, Bolin-self back. It'd be just like the Nuktuk days again.

 

"I'll meet you at Kwong's Cuisine at eight. Wear something nice."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Varrick and Bolin were both scrubbed up, wearing tuxes, and seated in a booth in the fanciest restaurant in Republic City. They were both laughing, and telling crazy stories, whilst eating eel-carp and noodles.

".. and then the Fire Nation representative told us she wasn't used to the weathers of the south, and she had a cold, but she'd attend the meeting anyway. So I'm making my pitch, and suddenly she's in the middle of a sneezing fit. And achoo, she sneezes so hard, a fireball flies out of her mouth! In an igloo! The whole place starts melting down around us, and everyone's freaking out, and the water benders are trying to put out the fire, but meanwhile, she's still sneezing and spitting out fireballs like melon seeds. By the end of it, we were just sitting in a puddle of what used to be my house!" Varrick finished his story, and Bolin laughed, almost snorting soup through his nose.

"Ooh, oh, I've got one! I've been visiting the spirit wilds a lot lately, and I noticed, when I go in there, there's a big mushroom that follows me around. And I thought he did that to everyone, but no, it's just me. So this happened every time I went in there, for a couple of weeks. And finally, a huge bird spirit comes over to explain to me. And it turns out this mushroom has a crush on me-" 

"What?!" Varrick was so startled he choked. and Bolin had to pat him on the back before he could continue 

"- And obviously, I have to tell the bird to tell the mushroom that I don't feel the same way. And this bird is trying to convince me to give him a shot, and I ask why I should. And she says, "Well, for one thing he's a really fun guy." Bolin laughed at his own joke, and laughed even harder at the disgusted look Varrick gave him for that pun.

"Ooh, that was bad." Varrick shook his head, chuckling a little, "It'll be really easy to top that. Did I ever tell you about the time I escaped capture from an entire army by hiding in a stuffed platypus bear?"

"You didn't need to tell me, I was there."

"But did I ever tell you how I got into the stuffed platypus bear?"

"No, and I don't want to know!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bolin and Varrick stayed out long into the night. They moved from the restaurant to the Pro-Bending arena, where they saw the Howling Hog-monkeys vanquish the Badass Badger-moles, 2 rounds to one.

They then hit up a series of bars Bolin didn't even know existed. Someone recognised him as Nuktuk, and suddenly he was the centre of attention. He was loving all the fuss people were making over him, and how many people wanted his autograph scrawled on napkins. Eventually he made his way back to Varrick, and they resumed the telling of crazy stories.

As the night went on, they both started trying to out-do the other. Varrick insisted he'd learned how to levitate, properly this time, while Bolin cheated at darts by using his bending to shift the board whenever it was Varrick's turn.

Drink after drink was pressed into his hands, and while Varrick had a happy glow of tipsiness about him, Bolin was flat-out drunk. He'd had liquor before – Earth Kingdom ale, and fancy Fire Nation wine - but never these technicolour drinks served in glasses shorter than his ring finger. They barely quenched his thirst on their own, so he'd had to drink three or four of them each time he was offered one.

"Varrick?" He slurred, groaning slightly, "Varrick, I don't feel so well." Varrick's nose curled up at Bolin's breath; the stench of alcohol hung on it, heavy and sour. Bolin began to sway, and Varrick had to reach out to him, stepping closer and holding onto his shoulders to hold him up. Bolin leaned into the taller man, and looked up at him with a goofy smile on his face.

"Varrick!! You know how you always –hic- stare at people before making business deals with them? Is that so that all your business buddies know you have such nice eyes?"

"Okay, kiddo. Come on." He wrapped one of Bolin's arms around his shoulders to keep the drunken Earth bender upright, and walked him back over to a barstool so he could sit down. He found Bolin a glass of water, and rubbed his back as he drank it.

"Bartender, do the thing."

"What do you mean? What thing? ... You mean call you a cab?"

 

"Exactly!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Half an hour, and one cab ride later, Varrick was helping Bolin up the stairs to his apartment, panting and sweating as the near-unconscious man leaned heavily on him. Bolin might have been half a foot shorter than Varrick (three quarters of a foot if Varrick was wearing his heeled dress shoes), but he was also built like a polar-bear dog, and all that muscle made him heavy.

"Really wish Zhu-Li was here. She could carry him up a mountain if she had to." He muttered under his breath, sighing with relief as they finally reached the top of the stairs.

"Where is Zhu-Li? I haven't seen her in ages." Bolin murmured, coming around slightly. Varrick sighed, not wanting to answer that question right at that minute.

"She hasn't gone anywhere. She's just really busy right now." He lied, frisking Bolin for his key before he could let them into the apartment. He tried to walk Bolin in, but the doorway wasn't big enough for both of them abreast. They came crashing into the room, knocking over a table and scaring the life out of Pabu in the process. Bolin burst out in a giggling fit when Pabu climbed him, wormed into his shirt and nestled against his chest, fur tickling his bare skin. He sighed and pushed Varrick away.

"I can get to my bed myself. Nightie night." He said, groping his way along the room, before finally collapsing into his bed. Without getting back up, he managed to tug his tux jacket off and rid himself of his shoes. As Varrick located a bucket, and placed it by the side of Bolin's bed in case of emergency during the night, Bolin picked Pabu out of his shirt and cuddled him. It was an adorable sight, and Varrick found himself watching the two of them until Bolin fell asleep. It was only then that he realised how long he'd been stood there. Slightly embarrassed, he moved away and got cosy on the couch. He thought back over the previous day and the memory made him smile. In the moments before he drifted off to sleep, he pondered the fluttering feeling that had developed in his chest.


End file.
